Palm Hills chairperson Yasseen Mansour said the international landscape architecture company SWA will finalise its plan for the development of a 500-acre project in New Cairo in June, before the project is introduced to the general market in the final quarter of 2016.

In December 2015, Palm Hills signed a contract with New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) to develop the 500-metre integrated urban project in New Cairo.

Mansour stated that Palm Hills plans to apply for new plots of land in West Cairo on areas ranging from 150 to 200 acres.

According to its Q1 2016 earnings release, Palm Hills has raised its sales targets from EGP 6.5bn to EGP 7bn, in light of the improvement in the real estate market activity.

The company’s net profit declined during the first quarter of 2016 to EGP 192m compared to EGP 215m in the comparable period last year, despite the increase in revenue to EGP 1.12bn compared to EGP 745m, a 44% increase during the comparison period.

Palm Hills attributed the decline in its net profit to the expiration of the company’s tax exemption at the end of 2015, in addition to the increase in the increase in the achieved revenues from Village Gate, Palm Valley and CASA, of which the company owns shares of 51% and 60% respectively.

Mansour pointed out that the company achieved sales of EGP 2.2bn during the first quarter of 2016, an increase of 62%.

He added that the company has delivered over 377 residential units. In addition, EGP582m was spent on construction. On the other hand, EGP715m was collected from receivables and new sales.

With regard to its passive income portfolio, Mansour said the company expects 25% of its net profits to be generated from passive income by 2020. Passive income currently contributes 11% to net profits.

Palm Hills has leased 81% of unites in the Street 88 Mall in 6th of October City, and expects to generate EGP 29m from the leasing agreements.

The company has also successfully leased 52% of available unites in Saleat VGK Mall, with expected revenue of EGP 162m.

The company plans to introduce several projects to the market in 2016, including phase two of the Palm Hills Katameya extension in East Cairo, the joint development project in Ras El Hekma on the North Coast, and the 500-acre joint project with the NUCA.